Two groups head out for a weekend in the West Highlands – one diving and one hiking. Who has the best time, asks the naturally unbiased Yo-Han Cha
YO-HANCHA
Two Tribes
Two groups head out for a weekend in the West Highlands – one diving and one hiking. Who has the best time, asks the naturally unbiased Yo-Han Cha
It’ s not always possible to have the exact same hobbies as your other half. That being said, perhaps it’ s not necessarily a bad thing; some of my older and wiser friends would say that it may well be a very good thing. And as much as my girlfriend has learned to dive, going diving for a weekend in March in the Sound of Mull was of no interest to her! However, she and her friends do like to go hiking, something that’ s of little interest to me.
When they learned that I was driving up to Scotland, they hatched an idea of walking the West Highland Way while I was off diving. Claire and I had certainly discussed the idea of combining our different interests on a joint weekend, but this was the first time we were actually going to do it.
It turned out there were similarities between hiking and diving. There were all the different types of specific equipment that needed to be packed. Admittedly, between diving and photography, I definitely had more stuff, but this diving weekend now included things like hiking
“ Both hikers and divers enjoyed seeing the flora and fauna”
poles, blister plasters and all manner of waterproofs. The car was double checked for both diving and hiking equipment and it certainly felt rather full as we set off from Bristol.
As this was a combined trip, I had to tweak my normal travel arrangements as I would have normally got up at some insane time in the morning and driven from Bristol to Lochaline in one day. However, as Claire was meeting her friends in Milngavie at the start of the West Highland Way, this meant setting off a day earlier and splitting the driving across two days in order to drop Claire off in Glasgow, which was a lot less tiring.
Both hikers and divers enjoyed seeing the flora and fauna that the West of Scotland has to offer. The hikers mainly saw hairy coos and Shetland ponies while scrambling up and down the Bens and Glens of the West Highland Way. We divers had fun keeping an eye out for giant flapper skate that we had heard were in the area. Unfortunately, no flappers were seen that weekend, but we were more than satisfied with the plethora of anemones and nudibranchs that we found inhabiting the wrecks and reefs of the Sound of Mull.
The weather also meant that there were some unfortunate extra similarities between hiking and diving that weekend. The wind and rain meant that it was at times challenging for the divers kitting-up and coming back onto the boat. As it was so changeable, it meant that we started every morning not knowing where we would be diving that day. But we were safe in the knowledge that we were in the hands of an experienced skipper who could get us in and out at some sheltered site around the Isle of Mull.
Despite all their waterproofs, the weather was so bad that the hikers got absolutely saturated. They just happened to be on dry( ish) land! However, we mustn’ t forget that the divers had to endure a mildly damp walk from the harbour to the Mishnish pub in Tobermory! In all seriousness though, when I reconvened with Claire and the hiking contingent on the Sunday evening, I think they definitely got the worst of the weather! �
Yo-Han’ s diving friends enjoy a sunny spell, while( inset) the hiking group puts a brave face on their own brand of hydration therapy
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